Geoff Tate Has a Perfectly Logical Explanation for Destroying a Fan’s Phone
While recently speaking to Geoff Taint on behalf of Music Enthusiast Magazine (The Magazine That’s Really a Website!), interviewer William Clark had the fucking gall to ask His Majesty about his recent foray into theft and destruction of property. The results of that fun conversation can be read below:
William: So tell me, what is with the incident from a few weeks ago, where you took a cell phone from one of the audience members and pitched it out to the crowd?
Geoff: Well, I think, William, what you’re referring to is thirty years of being a performer. And because I happen to be in a lawsuit right now, some actions that I have become very normal with as a performer are getting scrutinized and manipulated to paint a picture of me. And so I that’s what I think we are seeing now. Simple as that.
William: So you think that footage is just people trying to make you look like the bad guy?
Geoff: I think that’s the objective. I don’t think it shows me being a bad guy, it’s rock and roll. It’s what I do, you know? (laughs)
William: If that is the case, taking cell phones from audience members and pitching them out to the crowd wouldn’t help matters.
Geoff: Well thanks for that advice, William. You know, I actually have another interview that’s happening right now. I’ve gotta go, but I really appreciate the interview today and it was really good talking to you.
Let’s dissect Taint’s statements one by one, shall we?
“Well, I think, William, what you’re referring to is thirty years of being a performer. And because I happen to be in a lawsuit right now, some actions that I have become very normal with as a performer are getting scrutinized and manipulated to paint a picture of me.”
So as a performer, it has become a regular activity for Geoff to steal and then discard phones from members of the audience? Is that what he’s saying? ‘Cause that’s, like, not exactly the strongest defense I’ve heard. “Well I’ve become accustomed to killing and eating people, and this time I just got caught and now they’re saying I can’t kill and eat people anymore, p’shaw!”
Also not clear as to how this video has been “scrutinized and manipulated to paint a picture.” Was the video edited not to show the fan baiting Geoff earlier in the performance? Was Geoff really reaching out to sign an autograph, and then someone later created the whole phone thing via CGI? ‘Cause really it just looks like someone filmed Geoff behaving like a prick while he was, in fact, behaving like a prick. Nobody “made” Tate look like a bad guy — he is a bad guy.
“I don’t think it shows me being a bad guy, it’s rock and roll. It’s what I do, you know?”
Actually, disrespectfully trashing other people’s shit is a rock n’ roll tradition. Still, in the past, bands have attempted to stick to the destruction of hotel rooms, cars, and, save for the vaginas of groupies, not things owned by fans. The reason for this is simple: fans support you and give you your living, and no one really cares what you do to the couch at the Four Seasons (or, in Geoff’s case, more likely a Motel 6), save perhaps, for the cleaning staff that have to fix your mess. But even then, I’ve heard that if you pay for the damage and tip generously, they’re inclined to be pretty cool about the whole thing.
Geoff is right in one way, though: this is what he does. He behaves like a schmuck. It’s just in his nature.
“Well thanks for that advice, William. You know, I actually have another interview that’s happening right now. I’ve gotta go, but I really appreciate the interview today and it was really good talking to you.”
It’s entirely possible that Geoff was being 110% sincere when he said this, but something tells me he was being facetious and condescending. Actually, I can’t really knock him there. I love being facetious and condescending. I’m doing it right now. Then again, I didn’t just steal and destroy someone’s $200 phone.
So, yeah. They don’t call him Geoff Taint for no reason!
Read the rest of the interview here.
[via]
